A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[Leahs Mom]

RE feeding.... I understand that feeders draw robbers. What do you suggest to help prevent robbing if you're feeding?


ETA
I just read that recipe.

My "take" on it is that I've never seen a bee cook soy beans and dry them to make flour. Therefore, I would hesitate to make them eat it. There must be something that is more "natural" to their normal feeding habits that could be used.

Just my opinion...I try to raise any creatures I have in captivity as closely to what they'd choose in nature as possible....

 

[Lapeerian]

After checking out some of the web sites you mentioned I was able to find a map with the beekeeping associations and was thrilled to find a beekeeping association that is only about 30 miles from my home. It is CT not NY, so probably thats why I missed it initially. I will join all their classes and workshops and I think I will also get the frames with the foundation. Thank you very much.

Great!
I also forgot coming up is Geneva Bee Conference. A hike for you, in Geneva, NY. It is hosted by the Fingerlakes and the Ontario Beekeepers associations. I went last year with hubby so we could attend the separate breakout sessions. Very informative, they bring in different experts in all areas. Last year I sat in on Labeling Laws and Mead Making while hubby sat in on the other two. Then afternoon session was all together, listened to Mike Palmer on splits and Tom Seely on tracking wild bees. Silent auction, raffles, door prizes and lots of brochures from bee supply stores.

 

[rebrascora]

@Leahs Mom

In 19 years of beekeeping I've never fed my bees pollen patties and only very occasionally syrup. That said, I've never dealt with a package of bees (or ever want to) but I appreciate the need to feed packages because they don't come with a packed lunch (tummies full of honey) like bees in a swarm do, so they need a little help from some syrup to get started.

I prefer my bees to be in tune with their local environment and develop in accordance with the seasons and forage available, so I don't encourage them to raise brood early by feeding pollen patties. I let them wait until local conditions are right before raising brood, which means waiting until the weather is warm enough to fly regularly in order to collect pollen. That way, if there is a sudden cold spell or someone forgets to top up the feeder, the bees are not left with chilled and/or starving brood because they have expanded too quickly to be able to fend for themselves. Ie they become reliant on the beekeeper to support them. Of course the down side to this is that the colony does not build up as quickly, so the ability to gather nectar during those early nectar flows and make honey from it is reduced, but I am also not spending money on feeding them and I still get a little honey harvest but not as much as someone who has managed heir bees more intensively.

The other advantage of this is that there is a longer brood break during the winter which helps to keep the level of varroa mites low, which is one of the reasons my bees survive without varroa treatment.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Varroa treatment is horrible. It burns everything and think the major reason for it's effectiveness is it causes a break in brood cycle. Burns out all young larva. Which is fine but it also has a fairly high rate of killing queens, that combined with no young larva if your not diligent to find out in time results in a quickly collapsing queenless hive. Used treatment first time last year and am NOT a fan. Highly hygenic strains and survival of fittest to maintain that high level of resistence seems the way to go.

 

[Wavechickens]

Aw, bees are the best! I just love honey bees. We would love to get some, every year we plant extra flowers in the garden that attract them just because we love them so, and it helps our garden to boot!

 

[Leahs Mom]

So I have a question regarding bees and chickens.

Is it possible that, if you place your hives in an area that the chickens have access to, they might actually help keep down the natural predators? I'm thinking in terms of mites, beetles, moth, etc. dropping from the hive or dropping larvae under the hive that the chickens may clean up and lower the population?

Just curios .... I do imagine that they'd clean up dead bee carcases at least.

 

[CherMoz]

So I have a question regarding bees and chickens. 

Is it possible that, if you place your hives in an area that the chickens have access to, they might actually help keep down the natural predators?  I'm thinking in terms of mites, beetles, moth, etc. dropping from the hive or dropping larvae under the  hive that the chickens may clean up and lower the population?

Just curios .... I do imagine that they'd clean up dead bee carcases at least.

I have wondered that same thing.

 

[noble]

Hi, I lost one of my seven hives to moths. Now what??? 2016 was the first time we ever had bee's, the other hives did well over winter. But now I'm scared the moths will move to the other hives. Any help would be much appreciated please

 

[rebrascora]

@noble

In my experience wax moth is a symptom of a weak and/or failing hive rather than the cause of it. A strong hive will keep wax moth at bay. A swarm will even take over a hive that has died out and been decimated by wax moth, clean it out and start anew and be perfectly healthy....it is the natural cycle of things in the wild. A swarm will move into a hollow tree, build comb and live there for multiple seasons extending the nest each year then eventually die out for whatever reason, wax moth and mice move in and utilise the comb etc, breaking some of it down, then come swarming season the following year or maybe even 2 or 3 years later, a new swarm moves in, cleans up and reuses whatever comb can be salvaged and strips out and rebuilds whatever cannot.

Are you sure it is wax moth and not small hive beetle as the larvae from that can be more destructive I believe.....we don't have small hive beetle in the UK yet, so I have no experience of that.

If you are sure it is wax moth, then I would not be overly concerned about the other colonies unless they have other issues and are also weak.
If you can take photos of the comb from the failed colony and post if on this thread, it might be possible to determine what they died from..... Was there any honey left and was there brood? Did you see any varroa fras ....it's small white deposits in the brood cells, particularly noticeable if you turn the frames upside down and look into the cells as it usually gets deposited on the top edge of the cells, so not so obvious when you look down on the frames. Queen failure is another common cause of decline. Did you find the queen? Were the bees head first in the cells? Were there lots of dead bees in the hive or very few? When was the last time you can be sure they were alive? Sometimes activity at the entrance is actually other bees robbing out the stores after a colony has died or is weak, so that can be misleading.

At least you have plenty of other colonies to restock this hive from in a couple of months time.

Regards

Barbara

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Very excited, I'm getting bees for the first time this year. I settled on a warre hive and it's on it's way. I have my bees all lined up for the spring. Figure I should join in this thread and read and eventually share my experiences as I go.